The Knights Templar: The True and Surprising Story Of Histories Most Secretive Order Read online

  The Knights Templar:

  The True and Surprising Story of History’s Most Secretive Order

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: The Rise of the Knights Templar

  Chapter 2: The Banking System of the Order

  Chapter 3: A Knight’s Code of Honor

  Chapter 4: Symbolism During the Crusades and Middle Ages

  Chapter 5: The Second Crusade

  Chapter 6: The Battle of Montgisard

  Chapter 7: The Battle of Hattin

  Chapter 8: The Third Crusade

  Chapter 9: Friday the Thirteenth

  Chapter 10: Mysterious Religious Relics

  Chapter 11: The Knights Templar and Freemasonry

  Conclusion

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  Introduction

  First of all, I would like to congratulate and thank you for downloading this book! In the chapters that follow, a world of religious empire, warfare, mystery and treasure will be revealed to you. Regarding the Knights Templar, surely you have wondered where fact meets fantasy. The two have become almost indistinguishable as the tale tumbles through the hands of storytellers throughout history. Here, we will take a look at historic accounts and publications as well as lore and speculation to cover what is, if nothing else, a fantastic tale of medieval warfare, glory, greed and power.

  The saga of the Knights Templar came to be in the aftermath of the First Crusade. At the height of their power they indebted major nations, held countless properties and assets and became a state to themselves. They had the power to move freely throughout Europe and held privileges that were above the law and even sometimes the church. Their downfall, however, would be exactly the wealth that contributed to their rise of influence. Throughout medieval history, there aren’t many stories that are quite as sensational and tragic as that of the Knights Templar.

  The holy wars which led to the emergence of the Order were, in many ways, fought for the same reasons that motivated and inspired the Templars. Religion was obviously at the forefront of the agenda. To the knights and in the Christian empire, faith and morality were ruling forces that were revered. Many participants were, in fact, religious martyrs who truly believed they were fighting for Christ himself, or at least that’s how it began. Many of the first participants in the Crusades were criminals seeking pardon. These men were petty compared to those of power and their plots to obtain wealth and power under a religious guise.

  During this time the common citizen of Europe lived in poverty, and some would even say jealousy. The attractiveness of the East and of Muslim societies that were wealthy and prosperous plagued the minds of westerners, especially church leaders. Combined with this was the issue of communication. History has proven that Muslim countries were surprisingly tolerant of Jews and Christians, allowing them to pray and travel freely. No one in Europe would have known this, however. Pope Urban II, who called for the First Crusade, motivated by his own agenda – religious or otherwise – capitalized on the crowd. He was reported to have been an exceptional orator, and in his speech to the council he incited Christians against the eastern nations claiming that they were desecrating Christian temples and assaulting Christian pilgrims. All of these allegations were untrue of course, but the public rallied behind the cause. This, along with the general mind-set of the people, could explain why a previously peaceful people were suddenly so quick and ruthless in “liberating” the holy city. Another argument is that the impoverished Christian kings were so eager to exploit eastern riches that they pressured the Pope into calling for a “holy war”. Others claim that Pope Urban II acted alone to serve his own corrupt agenda.

  Donald Queller from the University of Illinois has said that “The French knights wanted more land. Italian merchants hoped to expand trade in Middle Eastern ports. . . Large numbers of poor people joined the expeditions simply to escape the hardships of their normal lives.” As the greedy hordes made their way across enemy territories, countless Muslims, Jews and Christians were killed in the name of riches and religion.

  Chapter 1: The Rise of the Knights Templar

  For two centuries during the Middle Ages, one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Western Christian military orders were the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ, or more commonly, the Knights Templar. For over 2 centuries, blood ran through the streets in the name of God, borders were drawn around kingdoms and alliances were formed. Out of the bloodshed emerged tales of martyrs, warriors and relics like the spear of destiny and the Holy Grail.

  In November of 1095, Pope Urban II summoned 300 members of the clergy to Clermont, France. There, he pleaded with Christians to take up arms against Islam in the Holy Land. His speech was extremely well thought out. He pleaded to his people to stop warring amongst themselves and appealed to all classes. “To let those who have been robbers now become knights”, he called out to the council. Anyone was welcome during the Crusades, whether they were a soldier, knight or commoner. The West had a few specific goals in this; one being to block what was seen as an Islamic incursion and to gain control of Jerusalem, which had previously been ruled by the Arabs and Turks since the seventh century. The Christian kings of the west were all too aware of the imminent threats of other emerging religions and empires around them. Understandably, they were keen on creating a monastic order of defense to keep their kingdom intact and to take the city of Jerusalem under Christian rule. They called themselves a coalition chosen by God himself to fight to the death in righteous and Holy battle.

  The Catholic Church offered a powerful motivation to join in Holy battle. Referred to as an indulgence, this was essentially a pardon from any previous crime or debt, and this ensured that the first Crusade would be the most ruthless of them all. Many of the participants were criminals of some sort who wished to start anew once they reached Jerusalem. Rapists, murderers and thieves alike joined the first Crusade and marched east slaughtering Muslims on the promise to have their records wiped clean. For as soon as they took back the Holy Land, all of their crimes would be absolved. Thousands responded to the call to battle and took up their swords. Three years of slaughter and bloodshed followed. The Christians of the west rallied with their allies in the Byzantine to push back the Turks and Arabs further and further south toward Jerusalem. Once the Crusaders arrived in the Holy Land, a historical battle ensued. Paintings and personal accounts from the event attest that it was indeed a brutal fight of faith.

  When Jerusalem was recaptured in 1099, many Christians wished to make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to find themselves in the place of Jesus’ birth among other religious reasons. However after the fall of the city, many of the Crusaders had moved on and were no longer protecting the area. Although Jerusalem itself was considered relatively secure at the time, just outside of the city was an exceptionally lawless wilderness. With the influx of religious travelers, a window was opened up for marauders and thieves. On their trying voyage to the Holy Land, hundreds upon hundreds of pilgrims found themselves victims of highwaymen and robbers. These outlaws would prey upon the pilgrims - beating, robbing and in many cases, killing them as they made their way from the coastline of Jaffa to the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

  In 1119, Warmund and Baldwin II of Jerusalem were approached by a French knight Hugues de Payens, a wealthy nobleman from the Champagne region of France who served in the first Crusades. De Payens proposed to recruit a handful of relations who vowed to p
rotect the Christian travelers to the Holy Land. The general idea was to have professional soldiers living as monks with a strict moral code and the abilities of noble warriors. The proposition was accepted at the Council of Nablus in early 1120 for political reasons as well as for the safety of pilgrimage.

  The Templars were granted headquarters on the Temple Mount in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The temple was widely believed to have been the ruins of the Temple of Solomon and therefore, that is what it was referred to by the Crusaders. From that location, the Order took the name of “Templar” knights, or the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. The original Order included nine men such as Andre de Montbard and Godfrey de Saint-Omer. The knights had very limited resources and relied on charitable contributions to survive. The fact that they were endorsed officially by the Roman Catholic Church in the year 1129 helped to secure the Order as a favored charity throughout the Christian elite. The Templars were innovators with an early form of finance in banking and building which helped to maintain their status and wealth. The bank system began in order to protect not only the lives of Christian travelers, but their money as well. They created a shadow system of banking with credit cards and checking accounts still observed today. The power of the banks, along with the wealth from interest rates and contributions, all came together in combination to thrust the Templars into the forefront of society. A relatively short time after the bank's creation, much of the European monarchy was in debt to Templar banks.

  The order boasted the ownership of a fleet of ships to carry goods, soldiers and pilgrims to the Holy Land of Jerusalem; and as a result “The Order also had to develop sophisticated financial and banking operations. Money raised by its estates had to be transmitted to the ‘sharp end’ - the Holy Land. As the Templars developed a reputation for the secure transfer of funds, the demand grew for them to do the same on behalf of pilgrims and other travellers. From this developed a system of credit so that a pilgrim could deposit funds at a Templar preceptory in his home country, and then draw goods and services from other Templar houses along his route. So in effect, the Templars invented the principles of the modern chequebook and credit card.” The Order consisted of more than just warrior monks following a monastic rule. These men were also bankers and builders who came up with countless secretive networks and codes, and developed an obsession with privacy which then led to the sensational conspiracy theories and speculations of modern times.

  Chapter 2: The Banking System of the Order

  The Templars are often praised as the fathers of modern banking, and while many were tasked with the protection of pilgrims from the coast to the Holy Land, many others never saw combat. These men filled other roles within the Order and these are roles that attributed to many modern advances in finance and banking. Most of the Templar Knights’ duties included keeping records and safeguarding items of value and money left in their care at various monasteries and banks. There were many more Knights charged with overseeing and recording transactions of land transfers, loans and other financial matters than those serving in combat for the Church. “The great majority were administrators of the more than 9,000 manors that had been given to the Order by pious benefactors.” As the Order’s wealth and assets began to grow, so did their power and influence.

  In only a few short years, the Knights Templar became one of the richest entities in the world. With the banks inside the walls of their monasteries and the qualified security to look after their assets, the knights began serving as sort of a safety deposit. Royalty and Nobility had begun to entrust the Knights with the task of securing their valuables in the monasteries. It is not surprising, then, that considering the wealth of the Order they were sought out for loans. They were not the first to do so, but the Templars were responsible for issuing loans that were much better documented than any other accounts during the middle-ages. The language used in these legal documents and transactions were not unlike that which is used today in the same sort of agreements.

  The banking services were not free, but the majority of pilgrims found that the cost of banking with the Templars was better than the risk of traveling with their life savings. However their innovation brought about a fair amount of fraud. The warrior monks knew a thing or two about secrecy. “The other consequence of the banking operations came from a demand for secure communications. As can be seen from today’s credit card crimes, a move away from hard cash is open to fraud and forgery - how, for example, could one Templar house be sure that a document presented to them really did come from another Templar house on the other side of Europe? The knights therefore developed a system of codes, both for identification and for the safe passing of information.” They put forth a successful banking system which required withdrawal and deposit information, which was then made secure by ciphers. These effects led to an even more sophisticated information network, namely military intelligence.

  In researching the written accounts completed by the Order, it is clear to see the enormity of loan transactions and the level of wealth that was present. The knights involved themselves in some of the largest loans of the time, including those to royal houses. With their secure and trustworthy reputation solidified, royalty and commoners alike had begun doing business with the Templars. The Order was well known for their code of conduct during battle, but they also clearly showed their influence on a much larger financial and business-minded scale.

  Chapter 3: A Knight’s Code of Honor

  The Templar Code originally had 72 tenets, but emphasis was put mainly on poverty and chastity and the virtue of renouncing earthly desires and personal wealth. They are also considered to be one of the first true cooperatives. The brothers pledged their assets to the collective for day-to-day operations. These rules helped to create one of the most powerful and wealthy organizations in the span of a few decades. Over time, the number of rules soared to over 700. These were created to manage the daily events of a knight’s life and reportedly, a Templar Knight was required to ask permission before spitting. When he did, he would then receive exact instructions on how to proceed. At the height of their power in the 13th century, they boasted 160,000 members and 20,000 armed knights scattered around the 9,000 holdings across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Holy Land.

  The Templar code was styled to resemble that of the Cistercian Monks as was written by Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux. The Order had requested to use a similar outline during the Council of Troyes and received formal recognition by the Catholic Church and the Pope in 1128. The Chivalric Code of the Knights of previous years had primarily been used for mobilizing troops in both offensive and defensive military endeavors and also as a way to pay respect to the social infrastructure of the nobility system.

  In reference to knightly duties, the code suggested that there was a commitment to be observed in doing what was best for the community, family and country as long as that did not breach other principles of conduct and honor. The knights were fiercely obedient as described in their oath that a vow or promise was sacred and was to be honored unless the recipient had broken his contract of their own willful actions. In reference to obedience, the Templars recognized God as the ultimate judge of obedience. In no way was it justified to break a vow in the eyes of God. Knights were required to hold fast to their commitments and were only relieved of such if the opposite party willingly broke the bond.

  The virtue of honor was considered a manner of conduct based on purity and integrity. The knights refused to compromise their virtues and at the core of honor was truth, regardless of what the repercussions might have been. Honor was the statement that you would defend what you stood for not just in statements, but in actions and the way you treated others and carried yourself. This leads to the next point- conduct. The Order placed great emphasis on living your life by a certain moral conduct. That is, doing what was perceived to be righteous at the time with the knowledge at hand.

  The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom was another pillar of the code. In fact, it is
one of the most notable driving factors of the era. The irony of this is that the search will never be complete. The actual attainment of knowledge is fleeting. It is constantly turned over as new wisdom comes into being and thus one cannot reach the pinnacle until one crosses over into the infinite enlightenment as was promised by God. The Templars also placed emphasis on being humble in their works as they were a direct reflection of devotion to the Order. Anything done in the name of the Knights Templar was expected to be carried out in a way that was representative of the noble brotherhood. Humility was taught in that when great results were achieved, one did not boast or seek praise from outside sources but rather rejoice quietly in having given one’s best effort. If in the end the task was not able to be completed, it was not acceptable to place blame on anyone else for your failures. One must be honest and factual when discussing the cause of the outcome and take responsibility for such, and then reflect on how to avoid the same result in the future or remedy the outcome if possible.

  As a Christian order, the knights were required to adhere to the principles of Christ in any and all endeavors. As well as living by Christ under the Templar code, the knights were keen on family life. They considered the institution of family as a step forward in the evolution from self and one of life’s greatest responsibilities. They valued living to provide for the safety, health and quality of life for their families. They believed that if one failed their children, then essentially they had failed themselves. The general idea was that children and their noble raising was of the utmost importance to the knights because they should take their moral code into fatherhood to mold and instill the Templar’s values.